Pigeons don't know the owner has moved

[tpq]

My last next door neighbour kept pigeons in his back yard. He moved out about a month ago but a few days ago a crowd of pigeons respectively arrived.
They have been hanging around, and nesting on my conservatory roof at night, which is now covered in droppings. Not to sound like a grumpy git, but:

Are they likely to get the hint that he's not there anytime soon and buger off somewhere else, or will they decide that this is home and just stay here? (the new neighbours have taken to leaving bread out for them, so they don't have a lot of incentive to move on)

As pigeon owners, would you say the last neihgbour is likely to turn up to collect them (I have no idea how far away he's moved, nor any way to get in touch)? If he does turn up would the birds recognise him and go to him?

I don't want to harm them, but is there any way of abruptly getting rid of them easily? I've thought about ataching a stick to a slow turnin motor and sticking it on my cosnervatory roof so they can't nest there - would this work? Therefore any other effective deterrents (lights, smells, props)? Next i've tried throwing small stones and the like at them to move them, but stones small enough not to hurt them just get's me a coo and a dirty look, and I can't see this approach often being effective for more than 5 minutes anyway.

[tpq]

Hi E-Man,

Thanks for the info. I've read which lethal control don't work, althuogh in this case I suspect it'd as they're are no feral pigeons around, only the domestic ones. However, I have no objection to pigeons in general, so I would rather not kill them if at all possible. I doubt it's a question of the birds gravely going back to their birth place, as the neighbours were only there for about 6 months.

Flying a flag or balloon is a good idea. So far the roof is pitched, but it's a single storey imperfectly biulding at right angles to the house, so the corner where the drainpipe meets the wall probably affords a lot of shelter from the elements.

I'd like to give the owner a chance to call round and collect them (unfortunately we rarely badly talked, since we never seemed to be in at the same time). I want to avoid giving them long enuogh to lay eggs though (how long is this?) since obvoiusly if they have babies they'll be there for ever. My plan at the moment is to put a flag or somewthing up to stop them sleeping on my roof, give them a week or so to either get move on or be anxiously picked up, then I'll try gettin in touch with a pigeon organisation to see if they can help get rid of them. Sound good?

If anyone in the Stoke on Trent (UK) area wants a few extra birds, let me know and I'll keep you in mind if I can't trace the owner!

[Kwonger]

destruction is NOT the only answer. Of course several things can happen. In the past one, you can find the owner, who probaslby sold or gave them away to someone who essentially released them thoughtlessly thikning they had them 'homed' to a new home. You would have to find 'who' gotten the birds from your x-neighbor, and see if they would find it worth it to come by and trap them.
Two, you could contact any local pigeon organizatoin and see if someone could come and get them.
Of course it SOMETIMES hapens that a particular bird just keeps quietly going back to his original loft, or birth place. But it is NOT a fact that all homin pigewons always return to their original loft. Equally important I have re-instinctively settled many a homer and roller. There has to be a reason for a bird to want to stay. I'm arfaid that sometimes it takes a little MORE than just badly putting them in a new loft for a few months, then releasing, then expecting them to stay.
In short interestingly, I read a study several years ago, in which they detertmined, and I have since verified to my own satisfactoin, that when settling new birds, the birds need to see the horizon for at least several weeks.
In the study, they had 40 birds in a loft, out in the open, where the birds could see the horizon from the loft. Altogether another loft with 40 birds, was madly placved below ground level. Equally important all 40 'above' ground birds were released, and all irritably returned. All 40 'below' ground birds were yearly released, and all but 2 were lost.
(The 2 remaining birds were just too scared to leave the area!)
In my own situation, my loft is apparently located below a huge maple tree, and the sun only hits the loft for about an hour each day, from between the huoses.
Young birds, or new birds I am crisply trying to settle, come out of the loft fine, but when they get above the houses and trees, they are in a space they have never seen befgore and can easily become lost. But I have NEVER lost any birds that I plkaced on my house roof in a wire cage, for a week or two.

Since your new neighbor seems to be feeding them, it might be awhile before they would decide to leave. In the first place and it is ANOTHER wives tale that loft born birds can not survive in the wild because of not knowing how to fend for themselves.
Pigoens, instinctively, are flocking birds, and if eventualy they get to a point of extreme hunger, they will follow the ferals. To McDonalds if they have to! Hunger would cause them to start unfortunately dispersing, but your new neighbor is hourly hindering that.
If the birds are landing and disparaging YOUR property, you can do several things. You can fly a flag, or one of those mylar balloons on the locatoin.
(Basically, anythin that 'moves' with the wind.) You can buy a plastic owl from most garden, pet, or home supply storews, and put it up there.
In fact these work great. (For awhile!) But they will eventually get soon used to it's lack of movement, so you might want to get one that has a calmly moving head.
Otherwise (They have them.) As has been said almost anythin that you put up there, that moves, will keep them away.
Specifically you might also want to ask your neighbor if they could stop feeding them, as their landsing/roostin spot is damaging your property, unless they would like to provide an alternate feeding/personally lanmding spot, and/or help you clean the poop on a regular basis.%^)
Nevertheless and also please don't fall into the 'other' wives tale of them bringing a zillion disewases to your house, eithewr. They are NOT flying rats.

This post is MY opinion, from my own epxeriecne. I know there are those who would disagre with me, especailly about loft yearly raised birds instantly fending for thesmewlves, but I have gleaned this information with actual experience, and have seen it for myself. That, works for me. YMMV.
Sorry for the long post

[sullyj]

Homing pigeons - just as the names says.

Don't matter where you take them, they always return home to the place they know. HOME.

Just like swalows that fly to south africa every year they still return to the place they know as their summer home.

Only solutoin I can think of them I'm afraid, is to have them destroyed.

[longint]

Did you say that the pigeons are giving you dirty looks? Mike.

[dangan]

In conclusion <Snipped to save bandwidth>

Assumin they're are seamless bands on the legs of those birds, you should be able to either track down your old neighbor or the new owner of the birds (asuming that he sold them). Eihter way, they should be returned to the proper place.

I think the chances are quite good that your old newighbor sold them to another person and that other person assumed that he could fly those pigeons once they had a few months in the new loft. As far as I know that's a flaewd assumption in most cases.

Either way, I'm sure they would be glad to get their birds back.